Andres Serrano at Oslo Fotokunstskole

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Ever since your work Immersion (Piss Christ) from 1987 gained international attention you have been a highly active artist on the international art scene. What made you start making art in the first place?

I started making art because I realized at an early age there was nothing else I could do or wanted to do. I had my dreams of rock and roll fame but I didn’t have it in me to become a singer or musician so I became an artist. It was an easy way to be something by being myself. I didn’t have to work hard at that.

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Next year it will be 40 years since your debut solo show. During these years shocking and confrontational subject matter has recurringly been a feature of your photographs. From your perspective, have the times changed over this period regarding the public climate for working with polarizing themes and motives?    

Personally, from my perspective, times have changed but they’ve also stayed the same. Same shit, different day. The controversy and stigma surrounding Piss Christ still follows me, particularly in the U.S. They can’t get past it. In Europe, on the other hand, Piss Christ is better received. I just had an exhibition at Musée Maillol in Paris where the picture was shown without a problem.

But speaking as an American, I see a wave of repression and censorship in the States. Institutional censorship, museum censorship, peer pressure censorship, self-censorship, even social media censorship. It seems the only one who is allowed to speak their mind around here is Donald Trump because no one can stop him. He doesn’t give a fuck.

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This fall you presented work from your series Infamous at Oslo Negativ. You also made a visit to Oslo Fotokunstskole, where you met students who will be making their marks on the art scene in the upcoming years. Do you have any advice for young people who are at the offset of developing their artistic practices?

My advice to young people is to follow your dreams and ideas. Also, work hard. And don't be afraid to poke your nose into the past. Some people think they invented the wheel when they haven’t. Look at what’s come before you and learn from it. I think one of the greatest examples of a young artist doing his homework is in a line from Bob Dylan’s masterpiece, “A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.” Dylan was very young when he wrote this song but when he sang the words, “But I’ll know my song well before I start singing,” Dylan was no longer a student, he was a master.

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An artist statement on your website states "I’ve never called myself a photographer", yet photography is the recurring expression in your practice.
What do you see yourself as, and what does it mean to you to be a photographer?

I dropped out of high school and soon after I attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School where I studied painting and sculpture. After two years of art school and because I didn’t have a studio, I starting taking pictures with my girlfriend’s camera. From the beginning I saw myself not as a photographer but as an artist who chose photography as my art practice. I see photographers as people who have a love and understanding of photography from a technical perspective. They love the medium of photography. I never went into a darkroom or had any interest in any cameras except the one I was using. Photography was only as a means to create the pictures in my head.

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You are born in New York, where you still live and work. Over the last years, you have developed several series of work that deal with current affairs in US politics, including the show "The Game: All Things Trump”, featuring $200,000 worth of Trump memorabilia and your very first film "Insurrection", which deals with events culminating in the 2021 storming of the Capitol building. How do you see the role of the artist in the current polarized political climate in the US? (Note: Interview conducted prior to the US-election)

I don’t know what the role of the artist is right now in this polarized environment except I know, for some, it’s to make money and you do that by not alienating or offending anyone especially your gallery or collectors. It’s a minefield out here and you have to be careful where you step. We’re on the eve of the US election for president and the country is so polarized people just want it to be over. They’re sick of it. All of it. Let’s get it over with and let a new nightmare begin.

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You have travelled to Norway on several occasions. What is your relationship to Norway?

I love Norway! I’ve been to Norway many times starting in the 90’s. I feel at home in Norway, particularly in Oslo. I know I’m only a stranger passing through but it always feels like a home away from home. That’s how things are when you’re an artist going from country to country, town to town. To paraphrase a line from The Temptation’s “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” I’d say, “Wherever I lay my hat is my home.”

ANDRES SERRANO VISITED OSLO FOTOKUNSTSKOLE WHILE IN TOWN FOR OSLO NEGATIV. FOLLOW HIS WORK AT ANDRESSERRANO.ORG.